Dietary Fat Intake and Exercise Among Two- and Four-Year College Students: Differences in Behavior and Psychosocial Factors

Given the demographic differences among two-year colleges and four-year universities and the relatively limited access to health education and campus-based health resources, this study compares the frequency of limiting dietary fat intake and exercising among two- and four-year college students. A total of 2,265 undergraduate students aged 18–25 at a two-year college and a four-year university completed a 108-item online survey in October 2008. We found that two-year college students had less confidence, motivation, and intention to engage in healthy behaviors and reported fewer close friends who exercise regularly but more friends who eat high-fat foods. After controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and parental education, two-year (versus four-year) college students less frequently limited dietary fat (F(2,2227) = 21.64, p < .001) and less frequently exercised ≥ 20 minutes a day (F(5,2232) = 14.21, p < .001). Thus, research should focus on developing interventions targeting the different psychosocial factors that influence nutrition and exercise among two-year college students.     

Investigating the Psychometric Properties of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) in Four Countries

The ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA) was developed to provide an international assessment tool that can be used by early childhood educators to develop, assess, and improve program quality worldwide. This pilot study was conducted in four countries to investigate the psychometric properties of the GGA within and across different countries. A total of 168 programs and 336 early care and education professionals participated in this study from communities in the People’s Republic of China, Guatemala, Taiwan, and the United States. The results show strong internal consistency for each subscale and the total GGA as well as moderate interrater consistency for the five subscales. A comparison of item ratings and the qualitative evidence suggests moderately acceptable congruence between the ratings and evidence to support the ratings. Patterns of program practices were identified within and across the participating sties and countries that reflected both unique and common practices. These results suggest that the GGA has potential as a useful and effective tool both for understanding early childhood program quality within and across countries and as a means of helping practitioners to establish and/or improve the quality of their services.     

Early Childhood Teachers Reconstruct Beliefs and Practices Through Reflexive Action

Professional development, which results in sustained transformative change, requires that teachers engage in critical reflection regarding teaching practices. In this study, a group of five bilingual and generalist early childhood teachers engaged in a journey in which they elected to try to reconstruct their beliefs and practices about teaching and learning. In response to a school district's needs, these teachers were enrolled as a cohort in an early childhood graduate program that served as part of their professional development endeavor. The teachers used reflection and ongoing dialogue that bridged theory and practice as they raised questions about their daily practices in relation to theoretical perspectives. We provide a glimpse of these teachers' ongoing transformative journeys and provide suggestions for early childhood teachers to engage in sustained professional development.     

Engaged Journalism and News Work: A Sociotechnical Analysis of Organizational Dynamics and Professional Challenges

ABSTRACT

Building upon the sociotechnical perspective presented by Lewis and Westlund (2015, “Actors, Actants, Audiences, and Activities in Cross-media News Work: A Matrix and a Research Agenda.” Digital Journalism 3 (1): 19–37. doi:10.1080/21670811.2014.927986), this study examines organizational dynamics, technological affordances and professional challenges of engaged journalism practices by analyzing how Hearken, one of the most celebrated audience engagement companies, and its tools and services are being implemented in 15 U.S. news organizations. This framework identifies Hearken and organizations like it as important “external actors” providing technological “actants” that are shaping how newsrooms report the news by providing ways for audiences to be brought into producing the news, particularly during the earlier phases of the reporting process. Based on in-depth interviews, we find that nearly every news organization in our sample reports some measure of success by using Hearken for involving audience members throughout the production of news. At the same time, we also identify how this implementation is significantly shaped by organizational imperatives and the models particular organizations create for producing audience-centric news work. Ultimately, this study presents a partial update to the decades-long literature on participatory journalism by suggesting that engaged journalism practices actually create opportunities for meaningful audience involvement.     

Sporting reunions,contemporary collections and collective biographies: a case study of Harry Batt’s 1971 England team

ABSTRACT

This article centres on a reunion held at the National Football Museum in 2018 of women football players active before 1993, particularly the England team for the unofficial Women's World Cup in 1971. After outlining the organisation of the tournament, the experience of the three youngest England players is articulated using oral history case studies. Finally the argument suggests that social strategies, such as reunions, enable a degree of reminiscence therapy and provide museum and archives with potential material, currently in the private domain, to build contemporary collections, provided that players are willing to gift or loan their items.     

Racial Perceptions of Young Children: A Review of Literature Post-1999

It has been argued that intervention strategies designed to reduce racial prejudice in young children have been based on weak theoretical models of racial stereotyping and prejudice with little effect on the reduction of racial bias. This paper examines the social-cognitive and intergroup scholarship post-Bigler (J Soc Issues 55(4), 687–705, 1999), with an emphasis on the development of racial prejudice in young children. The purpose of this paper is not to argue for a particular theoretical approach, but to provide an overview of some of the important pieces of research. Findings indicate that social learning and cognitive development models need to be understood when implementing curriculum designed to reduce racist beliefs and attitudes in young children.     

Filipino parents’ school choice and loyalty: a factor analysis

This quantitative study aims to ascertain the significant relationship existing between parents’ profile, and their school choice and school loyalty. Data were gathered using the researcher’s two-part made instrument. Respondents were first asked to fill in a robotfoto for purpose of profiling their baseline characteristics and were later asked to rate listed indicators, using a modified 8-point Likert scale. Using statistical tools such as the ANOVA, factor analysis, correlation, mean, and standard deviation, data were treated indepth. It is interesting to note that although parents are loyal to their alma mater, this does not have a much impact on their choice of school for their children. On the whole, parents’ choice of school is based on its indispensable qualities. Among the three interval-scale profiles of the parent respondents such as age, income, tuition fee payment and number of children, none of these relate to school choice, but age, income, and tuition fee payment negatively relate to school loyalty. From their nominal-scale profiles, significant differences were noted in their school choice when grouped according to civil status, place of work, and terms of payment. With respect to school loyalty, significant differences occurred in their responses when classified according to gender, terms of payment and their active participation in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).     

Australian higher education third party arrangements: an independent institute case study

Tertiary Education and Management - The marked increase in transnational higher education third party arrangements in recent years represents globalizing forms of education. Third party...